Discussion held as part of the Fall 2013 Speaker Series "Politics Then and Now, In Maine and the Nation."

Panelists:

Cynthia DillFormer State Senator

Cynthia Dill served on the Cape Elizabeth Town Council before election to both the Maine House of Representatives and Maine Senate. In 2012, she was the Democratic nominee for election to United States Senate. Dill is an award-winning civil rights attorney who joined the Portland law firm of Troubh Heisler in January, 2013, as a trial lawyer. She has a B.A. from the University of Vermont and J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Kenneth FredetteMaine House Republican Leader

In just his second term in the Maine Legislature, Rep. Ken Fredette is the Republican leader in the House of Representatives. A resident of Newport ME, Fredette holds degrees from UMaine/Machias, the UMaine School of Law, the Muskie School of Public Service, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also serves in the Air National Guard as a Judge Advocate General.

Amy FriedProfessor of Political Science

Amy Fried is professor of political science at the University of Maine, where she has taught since 1997. Her most recent book is Pathways to Polling (2011), which analyzes the evolution of public opinion research. Fried writes a biweekly column for the Bangor Daily News on national and Maine politics and authors the BDN blog "Pollways."

We’ve come a long way since President John F. Kennedy characterized politics as “a noble calling,” to today, when the nation’s political system is routinely described as “dysfunctional” and the political atmosphere in Washington and Augusta as “poisonous.”

Competition and cooperation co-exist in all healthy systems, side by side and sometimes cheek-by-jowel, to advance the system’s purposes. Whether it is a forest ecosystem, the human body, a large bureaucracy, or an economic system, its elements compete for resources to meet their own needs, even as they act to contribute to the survival and persistence of the system itself. Somewhere along the way from the 1960s, the U.S. political system lost sight of this important principle, threatening its public credibility, trust, and purposes.

Each speaker in the series will address these timely and important questions:

How was politics “played” in earlier times in Maine and the nation? And, how has that changed today?

How did this come about? What are the implications for the state and the nation of our continuing along this path? And, what will it take to change course?

What does Maine have to offer the nation in this regard, based on our experience here?

Brought to you by the Muskie School of Public Service and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine